Department for Transport

Crossrail Line

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the expected final (1) completion date, and (2) cost, of Crossrail; and what lessons are there, if any, for the HS2 project.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: Crossrail comes under the remit of the Mayor of London.In August 2020, Crossrail Limited announced that the central section of the railway will open in the first half of 2022. Following the opening of the central section, full services across the Elizabeth line from Reading and Heathrow in the west and between Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east, will be introduced.Crossrail Ltd.’s overall cost forecast of completing the programme is up to £18.9 billion. This includes Network Rail On-Network Costs for the surface works but excludes the new trains and depot.

Spaceflight

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they consider that space travel should be limited to scientific research, rather than space tourism.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: We are on the threshold of the new commercial space age, and this is a pivotal moment for the UK’s spaceflight ambitions.The UK Government has put in place the legislation needed for operators to open spaceports which allows for a range of commercial spaceflight activities, including suborbital space-tourism. However, it will be up to the operators of the spaceports what services they seek to run from them. The immediate focus for the UK Government is enabling launch and supporting the small satellite launch market. These small satellites can support improvements to public services for all.Growing our launch capability will help create new jobs and bring economic benefits to communities and organisations right across the UK, as well as inspiring the next generation of space scientists and engineers.Access to space is also essential for improving understanding of climate change and our efforts to tackle it. Satellite measurements of Earth’s temperature, greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric gases, sea levels, ice cover and other properties give the science community valuable data that can help us analyse and predict the impacts of climate change to enable effective strategies and decisions to be made. UK launch capability will enable the expansion and enhancement of earth observation and the gathering of environmental data, enabling a real and meaningful contribution to tackling climate change.

Railways: Bridges

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the effectiveness of the Masonry Arch Repair and Strengthening (MARS) system as a potential alternative to the infilling of railway bridges deemed unsafe by Highways England; and whether, as part of any such assessment, they have estimated the total (1) cost, and (2) reduction in carbon emissions, of adopting this approach instead of infilling.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Masonry Arch Repair and Strengthening (MARS) system is one of a range of treatments which is considered for the delivery of our maintenance of the Historical Railway Estate (HRE). It is a system that is suitable for strengthening and reinforcing masonry arches. However, given the type of structures that comprise the HRE, it can only be considered for a small number of arched structures. It should be noted that MARS is just one proprietary system and other systems are used where appropriate to undertake repairs on the HRE, examples include Shankend viaduct and Queensbury Tunnel.It was considered as a treatment at Great Musgrave. However, Highways England’s assessment found that while initial costs were estimated to be lower than infilling (approximately £100,000 for MARS versus £125,000 for infilling), it would take longer to install MARS. Using the MARS system would also require much more follow up maintenance resulting in additional future costs. Those costs are estimated to be ongoing maintenance every 20 years costing approximately £15,000, major refurbishment every 60 years costing approximately £100,000, plus costs for detailed examinations every 6 years costing approximately £1,500. These additional costs do not apply for infilling, representing better value for money.The carbon cost of the MARS system is difficult to estimate and compare. The steel used in the MARS system would have to be manufactured and transported to site, most of which usually comes from outside of the United Kingdom. The carbon costs would be far greater than sourcing fill material from a local quarry, although it is accepted that this carbon cost comparison does not take account of the fact that infilling might prevent use for cycling and walking unless an alternative route were provided.At certain sites Highways England (HE) has partially infilled and provided an access for either active travel or heritage railways, for example three bridges in Cumbia on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith branch for a heritage railway and in North Ayrshire on Route 73 of the National Cycle Network. Infilling whilst maintaining access is approximately 50% more expensive than infilling alone and requires ongoing maintenance and inspection costs. Where HE has completed this type of work it is on structures with existing or committed active travel routes.

Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bethell on 6 July (HL964), what plans they have to develop specific clinical guidance for the treatment of people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed and become infected with COVID-19.

Lord Bethell: Specific clinical guidance for the treatment of immunocompromised patients may be developed if research identifies effective treatments in the future.

Blood Cancer: Immunotherapy

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide doses ofmonoclonal antibodies to people with blood cancer who have had the COVID-19 vaccine.

Lord Bethell: Immunocompromised patients are a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments such as monoclonal antibody therapies, novel antivirals, and repurposed compounds. Monoclonal antibody treatments could potentially play a complementary role alongside the current vaccines programme in providing protection for those patients who may receive lower protection from vaccination compared to the general population.The Therapeutics Taskforce and the cross-agency United Kingdom-wide group RAPID C-19 are monitoring clinical trials of monoclonal antibody treatments. The National Health Service is preparing to deploy antibody treatments as soon as they become available. It is not yet possible to determine the exact patients who may be able to benefit from new treatments, as this will depend on results from clinical trials, licensing approvals from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and clinical policies set by NHS England and expert clinicians.

Travel: Coronavirus

Baroness Featherstone: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whetherUK residents who have received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produced in India will be prevented from using the digital COVID-19 passport to travel to Europe without tests and quarantine; and what steps they plan to take to help anyone so affected.

Lord Bethell: All University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines administered in the United Kingdom are the same product and appear on the NHS COVID Pass as ‘Vaxzevria’. The European Medicines Agency has authorised Vaxzevria and it is recognised by the European Union for the purpose of travel.

Dermatology

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Dermatology GIRFT Programme National Specialty Report: Proposed Recommendations, published on 15 September 2020; and what steps they intend to take in response to the proposed recommendations.

Lord Bethell: The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) National report on dermatology was completed in 2020 but has not yet been published, therefore we have not made this assessment. The report will be published later this year, once NHS England and NHS Improvement have reviewed the recommendations.

Influenza: Death

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the worst case scenario for flu deaths ahead of the 2021–22 winter flu season.

Lord Bethell: Public Health England has not made such an assessment. The number of cases and deaths due to influenza-related complications varies each season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the low levels of flu virus circulation globally in 2020 and 2021, predictions for the 2021/22 influenza season are particularly uncertain. The average number of estimated deaths in England for the last five seasons was over 11,000 deaths annually. This ranged from almost 4,000 deaths in 2018/19 to over 22,000 deaths in 2017/18. Of these deaths, many were in people with underlying conditions.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Lord Strasburger: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to NHS Digital’s General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection,who was consultedabout the deferral of this project; and which civil liberties organisations have been consulted about the project as a whole.

Lord Bethell: NHS Digital has engaged with a range of organisations over recent years when devising the General Practice Data for Planning and Research programme and when taking the decision to pause its implementation. This has included the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the National Data Guardian, Healthwatch England, Use My Data, the civil liberties organisation MedConfidential and research organisations.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the delay to the start of  the General Practice Data for Planning and Research programme, by what date must patients let their GPs know they wish to opt out.

Lord Bethell: We confirmed on 19 July that data extraction will not now begin until a number of tests have been met. These include creating the technical means to allow general practitioner data that has previously been uploaded to be deleted when someone registers a type 1 opt-out. Patients will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out and that the dataset will always reflect their current preference.

Coronavirus: Contracts

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people contacted the fast track ‘VIP lane’ for emergency procurement contracts to offer (1) personal protective equipment, and (2) COVID-19 testing equipment or services; and of this number, how many were awarded contracts.

Lord Bethell: The Department’s buying unit received offers of personal protective equipment (PPE) from approximately 16,000 companies and individuals commonly referred to as the ‘priority’ channel. Of the suppliers assessed through this channel, 47 of 493 obtained contracts.There was no formal ‘priority’ channel to assess offers of testing kits or services.

Department for Education

Overseas Students: Hong Kong

Lord Goodlad: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will give students from Hong Kong domestic fee status at universities in England.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: To qualify for home fee status in England, a person must have settled status or a recognised connection to the UK. This includes people who are covered by the EU Withdrawal Agreement, who have long residence in this country, or who have been granted international protection by the Home Office. There are also requirements associated with ordinary residence in the UK. Subject to meeting the normal eligibility requirements, people with Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status will be able to qualify for home fees once they have acquired settled status in the UK.

Erasmus+ Programme: Costs

Baroness Coussins: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost in each of the five years leading up to the UK's departure from the EUof the UK’s participation in the Erasmus and Erasmus+ programmes.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: While the UK was a member state of the EU, we did not make seperate contributions to individual EU programmes such as Erasmus+, but instead made an overall contribution to the EU budget which was then used to fund those programmes. It is therefore not possible to calculate a figure for the UK government’s direct contributions to Erasmus+. However, an indicative UK contribution figure can be obtained by taking the total Erasmus+ payments made in each year and applying to it the UK’s funding share of the overall EU budget in that year. Table 1 gives an indicative estimate of the UK’s Erasmus+ contributions between 2015 and 2019. The UK contributions estimate taken from table 1 in the attachment is included below. Under Erasmus+, the UK already contributed significantly more than we got out in the form of receipts, and the only terms of offer for continued participation would have required an annual gross contribution of £600 million, or a net contribution in the region of £2 billion over the course of the programme. The Turing Scheme goes further than Erasmus+ by being truly global. It also goes further in enabling more disadvantaged students to benefit from the opportunities of studying abroad, including by providing extra funding for disadvantaged students, and paying for extra costs for them, including travel costs. Table 1: UK Indicative Erasmus+ contributions in millions of pounds 20152016201720182019UK Indicative Erasmus+ contributions in millions of pounds209201224241296HL1883_table (xlsx, 25.1KB)

Ministry of Defence

Telecommunications Cables: Seas and Oceans

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Goldie on 13 July (HL1582), whether the Multi Role Ocean Surveillance Ship will be used as a subsea cable repair ship; and, if so, whether any such ships will be in the 30-year cross-government shipbuilding pipeline to be published later this year.

Baroness Goldie: The Multi Role Ocean Surveillance Ship will primarily undertake survey work and will also enable us to better protect our undersea cables and energy supplies. It will form part of the 30-year cross-government shipbuilding pipeline which will be published in the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh later this year.

Nuclear Weapons

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further topart 3.1 of the policy paperGlobal Britain in a Competitive Age, the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, published on 16 March, what "doctrinal threats" they believe would warrant a nuclear response.

Baroness Goldie: I can assure the Rt. Rev Prelate the Lord Bishop that the UK would consider using nuclear weapons only in the most extreme circumstances of self-defence, including the defence of our NATO Allies. While our resolve and capability to do so if necessary is beyond doubt, to avoid simplifying the calculations of potential adversaries, we will remain deliberately ambiguous about precisely when, how and at what scale we would contemplate the use of our nuclear weapons.

Department for Work and Pensions

Industrial Health and Safety

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide regulations and guidance for workplaces on health and safety compliance measures.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the national regulator of health & safety legislation in Great Britain. The principal legislation is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, which is supported by a framework of Regulations covering specific topic areas e.g. the Work at Height Regulations 2005, Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 etc. HSE provides an advisory service which can be accessed online via a form or by telephone. In addition, it provides a comprehensive suite of guidance documents and publications on compliance with all aspects of health and safety law and which are available for free from its website https://www.hse.gov.uk/guidance/index.htm. During the period 1 March 2020 – 28 February 2021, HSE’s analytics recorded: • 74.3 million page views of its guidance• 17.5 million people visited the site• 6.3 million downloads of our free publications (books) and guidance material• 71 per cent of users surveyed said the guidance they used was useful

Unemployment

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking tomake it easier for unemployed individuals to access clear labour market information on local green job opportunities.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: The green recovery presents a significant opportunity for UK workers to benefit from increased employment opportunities in green sectors.The Department for Work and Pensions stands ready to support people into green jobs as the sector grows through work coach interventions and targeted provision. We have recently recruited an additional 13,500 Work Coaches into our Jobcentres. The support they provide with skills and retraining advice for individuals is informed by knowledge of local employment opportunities and growing sectors, including green job opportunities. Our local leaders also engage directly with local employers, who are encouraged to deliver information sessions directly to work coaches and customers.The Department’s Find A Job service also offers on line access to jobs advertised both nationally and locally, which again includes green/renewable jobs.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Sports: Defibrillators

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support a defibrillator education programme at all professional sports teams.

Baroness Barran: First aid skills, including how to administer CPR, are important life skills for everyone. Recent events at UEFA EURO 2020 have demonstrated the immense value of first aid training and access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for anyone involved in professional sport. Sports have a responsibility to make the safety and welfare of players their top priority, including through access to life-saving first aid equipment and relevant training and education. It is for the relevant national governing body or professional league to determine what education programmes may be appropriate for participants and support staff in their sport. A number of sports do provide relevant education, including football. The Minister for Sport and Tourism welcomed the Premier League’s announcement in June 2021 of their new Defibrillator Fund, which will fund AEDs at thousands of football clubs and facilities across the country. Each grant recipient will be required to have at least one person successfully complete The FA Education’s free online Sudden Cardiac Arrest course.

Football: Safety

Lord Mann: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to publish their Standing at Football review.

Lord Mann: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is their policy to permit safe standing in football stadiums through rail seating when requested by clubs; and what is the timetable for doing so.

Lord Mann: To ask Her Majesty's Government which Premier League clubs are being permitted to introduce rail seating for the new football season; what form this permitted rail seating will take; whether it will be described as "safe standing"; and how many of such seats each club will have.

Lord Mann: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Sports Ground Safety Authority regarding the form of rail seating required at some football clubs for the new season; and if these (1) will be a permanent solution, and (2) will be defined as safe standing areas.

Lord Mann: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Sports Ground Safety Authority about the form of rail seating; whether such seating is regarded as a temporary measure; and if so, when further changes by football clubs to adapt seating for the new season will be required.

Lord Mann: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Sports Ground Safety Authority regarding technical safety differences between requirements for a form of rail seating and the requirement for formal approval of safe standing areas.

Baroness Barran: In 2019, the Government made a commitment to work with fans and clubs to introduce safe standing at football stadia. The Government is working closely with the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) on planning the next steps for implementing this manifesto commitment. In June 2021, the SGSA published its research into the Safe Management of Persistent Standing in Seated Areas at Football Stadia, which found that the installation of barriers or rails can have a positive impact on spectator safety, particularly in mitigating the risk of a progressive crowd collapse.The technical requirements for seats with barriers or independent barriers are detailed in the current (6th) edition of SGSA’s Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide). Football clubs may, in consultation with the relevant local authority and other partners, install such types of spectator accommodation in any part or all of their grounds as part of their management strategies for persistent standing.As the all-seater policy remains in place, these areas are licensed as seating areas only at present.